In short, you did your jobs, and I was a better man for the time I spent behind your walls, because my stay was NOT fun. And that is how jail is supposed to be. You served me well.

Now, going off the comments from other prisoners, I’d think you all have NO idea what you are doing, but maybe they aren’t catching onto the point of this whole jail thing, are they? You fed us, you took care of us, you housed us, and in the end, I learned my lesson, and I found out what it was like to be one of the folks who breaks the law. It was NOT fun. I say this again, for clarity.

I’ve had a bad, let’s say, four-year stretch. I got two DUIs during that time, and I fell down kind of hard. Alcohol took over my life when I wasn’t working, and I just kind of became robotic.

My first DUI should have fixed this. It didn’t.

I got the second one while driving within the borders of your county, and so my fate was sealed. I was pulled over while drunk, and rightly I should have been. I’d become a danger to myself and others. And that’s what the law is for, and I thank you for correcting me.

CLOSE

Pa. parents speak about their losses. They seek to strengthen the DUI laws.

Each one of us is beholden to our neighbors. It only takes a slight shift in our own focus away from our fellow man, and we become the enemy.

For this, I was remanded behind your walls for a period of four months. People weren’t always nice. Things didn’t always smell good, and I was not entertained. But I also learned a lesson. And that’s what jail is for: correction.

So I say, keep doing what you are doing. Focus on rehabilitation. Take care of these men and women in your facility, and try to make them into better citizens – because that’s who they are, citizens gone-astray. And in the end, they are you, and you are them.

Thank you, Adams County, for teaching me a lesson I will never forget. You took four months away from me, but you gave me back my life.

I propose that we give more credit to our correctional facilities, and give them more feedback, because the people behind their walls are our citizens. It would be nice if we could give them credit for the jobs they are doing, but also correct them in the ways that they are not succeeding. This is how societies work. Or at least it SHOULD be.